Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a huge statue built in honor of himself. He announced that if anyone refused to fall down and worship the statue he would be thrown into a fiery furnace. Three Jewish men, who were associated with Daniel, whose names were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to bow down and worship the statue. They were reported on by "certain Chaldeans." Nebuchadnezzar confronted them and said to them, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands." (Daniel 3:15.) They answered in Daniel 3:16b-18: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter. 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18. But if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, or worship the golden image which you have set up."
They knew that God was able to deliver them, but if He chose not to they would still not do as Nebuchadnezzar demanded. I love that spirit. There are people who think that if God does not do what they want Him to do that He has failed them. This means that they do not serve God, but they expect God to serve them. God has to do what they tell Him to do or He is not worth serving. They might not say that, but it is what they mean. I am glad to say that God does intervene in our lives to save us from bad situations, but sometimes He expects us to just tough it out. The three Hebrew men were saved from the fire, but in other places in the Bible people suffered and paid the price. Paul the apostle wrote about his sufferings. Stephen paid the price in Acts 7. Just because Paul suffered and Stephen died does not mean that God failed them. Remember what Jesus told Paul when he wanted his "thorn in the flesh" removed. Jesus told him, "My grace is sufficient for you." As we go through life we need to have the "but if not" attitude. God has His reasons for what He does. He doesn't owe us any explanations for what He does. He is, after all, God and we are not. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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